Election day is Nov. 3

William M. Kinsella, a family law attorney in private practice, is seeking the presiding municipal judgeship.(Photo: Diana Alba Soular / Sun-News)

LAS CRUCES — Nabbed in Las Cruces for too many weeds? Cited for posting a garage sale sign somewhere it shouldn't have been?

Las Cruces municipal court is the place those infractions are filed — and dealt with.

And, because of an impending vacancy, the court's oversight will change with the outcome of a Nov. 3 city election. Seeking to become the next presiding judge are two candidates — William "Bill" Kinsella, 60, a local attorney, and Kieran Ryan, 63, who now holds the second judge position at municipal court.

There's no incumbent in the race because presiding Municipal Judge Melissa Miller-Byrnes, who's held the post for 16 years, announced she's retiring.

In addition to normal judge duties, whoever holds the post will be responsible for running the administrative side of the operation, such as budgeting, court policies and staffing matters.

Kinsella, a family law attorney in private practice, said he's got 29 years of experience as a lawyer, and his career has included time in Socorro, Alamogordo and Clovis. He's been in Las Cruces 17 years, including years working as a prosecuting attorney with the 3rd Judicial District Attorney's Office. He said he sees the election as an opportunity to take "some fresh ideas, new perspective to the court." He said he's also running because he likes to help people.

"This is the first time in 16 years there may be able to be a change in the court's policies and the way things are being done," he said.

Ryan said he was a fill-in municipal judge for 14 years and has been a siting municipal judge for 3½ years. He was first appointed to fill a judgeship vacancy and subsequently won election to the seat two years ago.

Ryan touted his lengthy experience on the bench as a key asset in being able to step into the presiding judge post, which has extra responsibilities. He said other courts, such as state district court, require their presiding judges to have been a judge before taking the top post.

"You need to have sat on the bench for a period of time to understand and get the experience to be the presiding judge," he said. "The court is running very smoothly and very stably."

Kinsella said, if elected, he'd seek ways to improve access to the court, such as through expanded hours or offering online options.

"I'd like to help the people, maybe have an evening court, have night court so that people who work can still go to court and not miss work," he said.

Ryan said evening hours are something that's been done before, but it can pose problems with the police department and its budget. He said he'd consider opening an hour earlier and adding another processing window for clients.

"What I would suggest is right now, we have three windows where people can come up in the morning and get infractions taken care of," he said. "Perhaps put another window in there."

Both Kinsella and Ryan took exception with the court's current building at 135 E. Griggs Ave. in downtown Las Cruces, and said they'd seek an improved facility.

Ryan said operating the court in a historic post office is inefficient.

"I look forward to working with the City Council on a new municipal court," he said. "The court we're in right now was dedicated during the term of Woodrow Wilson in 1917. And the HVAC system does not work very well in the summertime and it doesn't work very well in the wintertime, either."

Kinsella said the building wasn't meant to be a courthouse, and fixing it up is like putting "lipstick on a pig."

"You're not going to get what you want," he said. "It's not made for security reasons. You take a look at magistrate court. I think that's an example of what a courthouse should look like."

The city's Infrastructure Capital Improvement Plan indicates the city is seeking to spend $5 million in 2016-17 on a municipal court, according to the document.

Kinsella said another of his aims would be to keep lines to a minimum at court. Ryan said he's adept at doing that now. He said the main day there's a line is Monday because of extra people who show up after the weekend.

Both Ryan and Kinsella said they support the city attorney's office representing police officers in cases in which a defendant has an attorney, something that doesn't happen now.

Both candidates are self-financing their campaigns to avoid any appearance of impropriety.

Ryan said the municipal court each year proposes its budget, which is presented to the City Council, which approves it.

Municipal judges must be licensed attorneys. The presiding judge position pays $100,468 per year, according to the city.

All registered voters in the city can vote in the municipal judge race.

If Ryan doesn't win, he'll retain the Municipal Judge 2 seat. If he does win, he'd vacate the Municipal Judge 2 seat, and the council would appoint someone to it.

Early voting runs from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. today through Friday at the city clerk's office, 700 N. Main St., Las Cruces. The final day of early voting is Saturday, when it runs from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Election day is Nov. 3. Voting will take place between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. at 14 locations across the city.

Reporter Diana Alba Soular may be reached at 575-541-5443 or dalba@lcsun-news.com. Follow her on Twitter: @AlbaSoular